You Decorated My Universe (Stevencest)

FOUR

I'm not in the mood of eating, but it growled again, this time, louder. My insides shrank and crumple in hungriness. I got up and walked toward the fridge to pull out the chocolate cake Bernadette gave to me earlier. I took a fork and sat down to indulge every slice. After taking a bite of the half sliced cake, my nerves surrounding the belly button acted weirdly. It tingled and suddenly reacted unusually from inside, causing a sudden hyper-acidity.

I think I'm going to puke.

I sprinted toward the bathroom and knelt in front of the toilet as I burst into an entirely insane spew continuously. I felt drained, couldn't dare to get on both of my feet. My body trembled as my lips quivered. I felt so unsteady.

Pink walked in the bathroom to check what's going on. He knelt at the side as he rubbed my back to relieve myself. "Steven, are you okay?"

"Yes," I lied and puked out of the blue. He gave this weirdly serious look, doubting my assurance. I sighed, "Actually, I don't. My belly button's been hurting all day."

I wiped off the slight puke below my bottom lip and gargled with tap water so that my mouth wouldn't be that rotten to the smell. He held my hand, and it made me blush. I didn't expect his hand would be this soft. Mine is rougher than his so... kudos to him for having such a soft palm. I immediately removed my hand as I sank on my bed again. The feebleness overpowered my body, which I can't avoid that easily.

Pink got back with a glass of water on his hand and lent it to me. I sat up and fixed my blanket. "Thanks." I slurped until it was empty and put the glass on top of the table beside me.

Pink, for no reason he did it, got on top of me and took a firm grip on both of my wrists. He sat on my legs so I couldn't move. He was heavy and strong; there's no way I can get off of this. "Pink, what are you doing?"

He didn't respond, nor tried to look me in the eye.

He rolled my shirt up as he stuck his index finger in his mouth. I kept wiggling, but I failed. What is he trying to do?

A few seconds later, I finally guessed what he's trying to do, and it didn't sit right well with me. "Oh no, don't you dare stick your finger in my belly button, Pink. I'm going to kill you if you did, I swear to god."

I kept repeating his name to stop; I kept wiggling, but he wouldn't budge. He inserted his finger in my belly button as I feel the weird sliminess of his saliva, causing me to shiver in complete disgust. He let go of my hands and I shoved him off of the bed in an instant.

"What's the matter with you?"

He returned with a question. "How do you feel?"

"Completely grossed out."

"I mean your belly button?"

I took a moment to process how my belly button is doing. My insides weren't hurting anymore, unlike a few seconds ago. The hurting stopped after Pink healed it. I felt much better now.

"Not hurting anymore," I replied. "Thank you."

My phone buzzed. I looked at my phone and saw Connie's name appeared on my screen. I lifted and swiped to answer. "Hey, Connie."

Connie responded in a joyful tone, "Steven, did you get my gift?"

I didn't receive her gift today, so how would I know? Pink entered the room, showing me a canvas with my face that was drawn using oil pastels. It looked fantastic, like it's edited by Photoshop or something. The shading and the minor details were spot-on like any pro artist would achieve. It's so lovely that she came up with this kind of present for my birthday.

"Oh, yeah, I got it."

"Did you like it?"

"Yeah, I love it, thanks."

I looked at Pink standing in front of me, still holding the canvas. I wanted her to know about Pink's existence and tell her what's been going on recently. She probably has studies to focus on right now and it might bother her, but it's worth a try. "Hey, Connie, I have a little situation here and I want you to see it. Do you have a minute?"

"No, I only called to check if you receive the gift. We're having a family meeting right now for the reunion and I just excused myself to go to the bathroom."

"How about tomorrow?"

"Sorry, I already set my schedules for the entire week. The following week will be the Class Debate. I really want to sneak in and come, but I just can't."

I made a downcast look. I wanted her time, but that would be impossible for me to get. "It's okay. I understand."

I heard Mrs. Maheswaran's voice, trying to call her. Then she followed that her partner is looking for her. What partner? Partner for their thesis? I'm going to assume that it is. I wouldn't be so skeptical about it, otherwise, she would notice that I'm being inquisitive about that so-called partner of hers.

"Oh, I have to go. Mom's calling me. Glad you liked the gift."

"Yeah, I adore it," I said. "Love you."

"Yeah, bye."

She ended the phone call.

I sighed. Weirdly, she didn't reply I love you too to me. It kinda' seemed like her goodbye was unintentional, unlike the past few months and last night. It's making me curious. But she loves me, and I love her—that fact will be in our hands no matter what it takes. However, I won't let my guard down by this, I still need to know who that partner of hers is.

Days turned into weeks, and then a month.

She hasn't gotten in touch with me after that call. I'm getting worried about it. She has posted nothing on the internet about her latest status. Every call I make toward her is out of reach or the network's busy, nor can't I even contact her parents. Something is going on that I couldn't understand.

Since Mr. Wilkins had a day-off and the restaurant's closed, I visited him at her boarding house in Lawrence, Kansas. After an hour of traveling in my Dondai, I finally arrived at the University of Jayhawk. I tried calling her and it was ringing, but the ringing kept going; she wasn't answering my calls.

Where is she?

I wandered around the University—each hallway, fields, the canteen, rooms, I located, but there was no sign of her. Later on, I stumbled upon Daniel—Connie's classmate, the one I met back at Beach City—and asked him where she might be.

"At the quadrangle," he spoke.

He accompanied me toward the quadrangle since I didn't know where the hell that quadrangle is. The University of Jayhawk is darn huge and has far more directions and departments than, let's say, for example, Little Homeschool.

I got there and saw her laughing at some silly jokes with a guy I don't know who. Wearing a stripe polo shirt, fitted jeans, and sneakers, brushed-up pompadour hair, wrapped around him was a large brown sling bag, plastering a wide jolly smile.

Charlie Hopper Samson was the guy's name, according to Daniel. A transfer student from UCLA. Daniel left me behind, for he has a class to attend to. I made my way toward Charlie and Connie without notice. I felt hesitant to face her after a month with no interaction with one another. It seemed weird. But I have to talk to her.

I want to know the reason she ghosted me for no reason.